Worth It (Forbidden Men, #6)(42)

Felicity stared at me without reaction for a full five seconds before she exploded. “What? How is that any less cheesy than the jokes I tell?”

“It’s not,” I admitted. “I think you just dragged me to the tacky side.” Unable to help myself any longer, I reached out. Grasping the back of her neck, I pulled her into me as I leaned forward onto my knees to meet her halfway.

She gasped a split second before my mouth met hers. The taste of her surprise was sweet and addictive.

“Hi,” I said against her lips in between simple, but long closed-mouth kisses.

She grinned back and murmured, “Hi.” Her smile felt so good I had my tongue sliding against hers a breath later. My fingers delicately cupped the sides of her throat as she arched closer and grasped a handful of my hair at the base of my neck.

I groaned and she gave a hungry whimper. When her towel slipped off one shoulder, my greedy fingers reached for all that bare flesh. Down her soft arm, my palm slowed when I realized it was gliding over tiny knots. I pulled back to frown at her skin. “You still have goose bumps.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not cold at all.”

A couple water drops clung to her lashes as she blinked and moved her gaze to my chest. I realized I had goose bumps too, and I wasn’t cold either. In fact, I was burning up.

Still staring at me with a dazed kind of wonder, Felicity puffed out a breath and slowly lifted her hand...toward my chest. I held all the air in my lungs until she made contact, and then I released it with a rush as her soft, hesitant fingers slid up my ribcage and toward my pecs.

When her thumb brushed across my nipple, I made an involuntary sound. Then I was reaching for her, burying one hand in her hair and pressing my mouth to the side of her throat and the other hand around her waist to urge her forward, against me...right into my lap. Her thighs naturally spread to straddle me as she slid into place, and my teeth nipped at the wet black strap of her swimming suit, aching to bite into it and draw it off her shoulder, expose her breasts to me and—

I hadn’t realized my arm had tightened so much around her waist and tugged her quite so deep into my lap until my aching cock pressed right up between her legs, only the damp cloth of our swimwear separating us.

She stiffened in my arms, and I froze.

“Is this too much?” I asked against her shoulder, fearing that if I looked into her face right now, I’d see fear or disgust. But a breath later, she relaxed into me and pressed even harder against my erection

“No,” she said as she nuzzled her cheek against mine.

It was too much for me, though. Hearing her breathless answer, feeling her in my lap, smelling her, tasting her, I wanted more. I wanted everything. So I kept pressing my forehead to her shoulder without diving back into her lips. Except, I could picture them perfectly in my head, still parted, and dewy, and so freaking tempting. I wrapped both arms around her and pulled her in until I had my chin tucked over her shoulder. Refusing to make eye contact, I gazed out toward the water so I couldn’t be tempted by the sight of her mouth again.

She burrowed against me and hugged me back. For such a skinny girl, she was an amazing hugger. And her breasts definitely didn’t seem so small when they were flush up against me. We fit together perfectly. She was soft and warm and feminine.

There was so much weird shit going on inside me, things I’d never experienced before that went way above mere physical need. It overwhelmed the f*ck out of me.

I combed my fingers through her hair to hide the way they’d begun to shake.

Then she had to go and admit, “I can’t remember the last time I was hugged,” and that intense awareness in me me coiled even tighter around my heart until my entire chest felt compacted and full.

“Then I’ll hug you every day,” I promised.

My erection dug against her feminine warmth and her hard nipples poked through her swimming suit and right into my chest, but I didn’t even care to push for more. Because simply hugging Felicity Bainbridge to my heart was the most fulfilling sensation in the world.





“What the f*ck!” I growled as I pinned Pick to the wall of his office by his throat. “What the actual f*ck? You lied to me.”

He lifted his hands, though the calming gesture did little to placate me. “I take it Felicity is a trigger with you. Good to know.”

I thumped him against drywall. “This isn’t funny.”

He sputtered out a sound. “Trust me, man. I’m not laughing. But I am curious. Are you pissed to hear her name because you blame her for what happened or because you’re upset to learn how she turned out?”

My fingers tightened in his shirt as I narrowed my eyes. “Why would I blame her for anything?”

He blew out a breath. “You shouldn’t. And it’s a relief to hear you say you don’t. Now back up off me so I can breathe. Then I’ll explain everything. I never lied to you.”

I let go of his jugular and lifted both hands as I took a step back. “So, what? You just forgot to mention she works here? She f*cking works here? Did you never hear what happened to us?”

The f*cker took his sweet time answering as he straightened his shirt and wiped a palm over his face before drawing in a deep breath. Then, all he said was, “Oh, I heard. It was the big talk in our neighborhood months after you were arrested.”